


What Happens In Arcadia

by im_the_king_of_the_ocean



Series: Ficlet Collections [7]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Angst, Drabble Collection, Dragon Prince AU, Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Multi, Nightmares, None of these are related, and i don't want every single snippet i write to be a separate one, and they vary wildly in topics, but most are fluffy, i just already have a lot of stories, mention of Arcadia Urban Legends, so the short and random ones unrelated to anything else i do, some of these are dark, will be put here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 03:18:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17675438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/im_the_king_of_the_ocean/pseuds/im_the_king_of_the_ocean
Summary: Welcome to Arcadia, home to the weird, the unexplained, and those stories you'll try to tell your friends when you return home to your normal city later that no one will believe.





	1. The Dragon Prince AU

**Author's Note:**

> Various snippets I've written and originally posted to Tumblr collected together here.

“Momma!Momma, look!It’s my menorah.Do you like it?Huh?Do you?Do you?”Jim scampers up to Barbara as she draws water from the well.He holds up an object, made of a gnarly piece of wood and nine little candleholders likely donated to his school for her inspection.

Barbara wipes her brow and she hefts the bucket out of the well.She puts it down as to have the opportunity to fully inspect the homemade menorah.They certainly can’t actually put candles in it, she thinks.It would sooner catch on fire than let them burn.“That’s very nice, Jim,” she tells her son anyway.“Let’s go home.”She leads him away from the well.

Jim trots after her.“Do ya think Da would have liked it?”

Barbara turns her head away so he can’t see her grimace.“Perhaps.”It’s the most noncommittal answer she can give.

“Do ya think he misses us?”Jim continues his line of inquiry anyway.Barbara doesn’t begrudge him for it.He’s a child, and a curious one at that.It’s only fair that he’d ask questions like this one.

She looks to the sky, a part of her wishing a sky elf with magnificent wings would come swooping down out of the clouds.None does.She turns away and readjusts her grip on their water buckets.

They said their final goodbyes anyway, back when she and all the other humans were banished from Xadia.Or, at least, _she_ had.

At the time, she and her husband did not know she was with child.She’d only found that out after being in Katolis for some months.Because there was no communicating with Xadia then (or now), Jim’s elf father had no idea he existed.

How could he miss a child he’d never known about?

“I should think he does,” Barbara lies.“Come on, we need to be getting home.We still have to prepare the potatoes for latkes.”


	2. Best Troll Friends Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A couple of Arcadia Scouts decide to befriend the biggest, scariest troll they can think of to earn their 'Friend To Trolls' Badge.

Upon entering Scouts Hall, Nory spotted her friends, Miles and Amanda (who liked to be called Randy).She ran over to them while simultaneously twisting her badge sash so her latest one was upfront and most prominently displayed.

“Look it!”Nory greeted Miles and Randy.“I _told_ you I got a new badge.”One that only four other kids got too, which made it Super Ultra Rare.

Miles studied the badge.“The Billycraggle Badge isn’t a real thing.You got your mom to put it on.”

“Nu-uh.I got it last week at the campout,” Nory retorted.“Cause we were attacked by The Billycraggle and fought it off.”

Okay, in actuality, the ‘Billycraggle’ was one of the chaperones, Ms. Nomura, who’d decided to scare the campers during Mrs. Nunez’s scary story time.Then, because some _other_ kids got super scared (definitely not Nory though), Ms. Nomura had to give out a Special Apology Badge (that had been instantly named the Billycraggle Badge by its recipients because that was way, way cooler than ‘Ms. Nomura’s Apology Badge’).

Anyway, the moral of the story was Ms. Nomura was super awesome and ‘survived an attack from a spooky story myth’ was a way better tale than just another prank.

“Ah man.”Randy stroked the badge.“I wish I could’ve been there.”She looked up at Nory.“You think we could convince them to take us on a Billycraggle Hunt so we get a chance to get the badge too?”

“I dunno.”Nory shrugged.“That would be cool though.”

“Listen up, scouts!”Their troupe leader began the meeting.“This week, I have a brand new badge for you to earn.The Friend To Trolls Badge!What you have to do to earn it is…”

* * *

“You approach him!”

“No, _you_!”

“This was _your_ idea!”

“You’re the one who ‘fought the Billycraggle’.”

“Guys, he’s walking away!”Randy interrupted her two friends.

All three of them glanced at the absolutely massive troll who was walking down the sidewalk away from them.Out of all the trolls, he was, they’d unanimously agreed, the absolutely biggest.Therefore, he’d be the best candidate for them to befriend in order to receive the Friend To Trolls Badge.

However, there was one tiny issue.

The troll was kinda scary.

His hands were as big as their heads.He could probably smush the three of them to paste in one go too.Sure, they’d been _told_ the trolls didn’t mean anyone harm.Someone called the Trollhunter (Arcadia’s own superhero surely) had ‘taken care of’ all the bad trolls (which meant, in adult-speak, he’d probably killed them).That meant, this troll was probably A Good Troll.But still.

“All together?”Nory suggested.

Both her friends nodded, so she held out her clenched fist.Randy put her hand atop Nory’s, and then Miles put his hand on hers to be the top of the stack.

“For the badge!”They cried in unison, threw their hands up in their Secret Best Friends Cheer, jumped out from behind the bush, and charged at the troll.They stopped directly in front of him, startling him.

Nory was the first to look up into his big green eyes.“Will you be our friend?”She asked.

* * *

The troll’s name was Arrrgh!!! and he was absolutely, without a doubt, the best ever and that was something Nory and her friends didn’t say lightly.

He was slightly confused at first, but then broke out into this _huuuuge_ (if a bit toothy) smile.Of course, he wanted to be their friend, but he knew as much about kid/troll friendships as he did.Which was to say, not a lot.He did have one human friend, named Toby (but since Toby was a Teenager, he didn’t really count).

Anyway, after a lot of talking on possible things they could do together, Randy timidly asked Arrrgh!!! if she could braid his hair (mane? moss?None of them quite knew what that was growing on the big troll).Arrrgh!!! said ‘yes’ and they’d done that for a while.

Now, Nory and Randy were playing the “Who Can Climb All Over Arrrgh!!! Faster” game while Miles was drawing on Arrrgh!!!’s free arm with chalk.

Needless to say, they’d made a new friend.


	3. Half-Siblings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toby finds out he's half-alien and interrogates Krel about it

“Let me down!”Krel kicks out, but the gesture is utterly hopeless.The warhammer only obeys one.“ _PLEASE_!”He wasn’t afraid of heights.He totally wasn’t.He just prefers not to be dangling from a magical, floating weapon thing way too far off the ground. 

“Look.”Toby sighs from down below.“If you just explain to me what’s going on, we wouldn’t have to go through all this.Did you or did you not kidnap my parents?”He pauses.“And my grandpa!”

In hindsight, Krel now regrets subtly dropping comments in conversations with Toby for the past week or so about how he knew his real heritage.In his defense, he just found the concept of having a brother (even a half one) exciting.Having a sister is nice.Definitely.Krel loves Aja, but there are times when they don’t always get along.

Though, if this is what having a brother is like, Krel takes it all back.Brothers _suck_.

“All I want to know is where my parents are.”Toby gazes up at him and there’s something so very sad in his expression.

Krel gives up.“They’re space pirates!”He yells.

“What?”

“We don’t actually know where your grandpa and your dad are!”Krel takes a deep breath so he can yell more.Toby is getting farther and farther away and that’s definitely worrisome.“Because they’re space pirates!Your mom—also my mom—was back on our home planet the last I knew. _Please_ let me down now!”

Toby makes a gesture with his hand.The warhammer begins lowering itself.Krel breathes out with relief.

When Krel finally gets back to the ground, Toby tells him, “You have a lot of explaining to do.”

A little more secure now that his feet were on solid earth, Krel grins.“It all began a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”


	4. Completely Normal Earthling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aja struggles not to drop things while in disguise with two less hands

Being a human, Aja figures, will be easy.Primitive technology and two less hands.Ha!She will be so good at being a Completely Normal Earthling that no one will ever, _ever_ consider, even for the slightest moment, that she isn’t.To be fair, the Earthlings don’t really believe in space aliens either (with the notable exception of a few, but Aja quickly gathered Eli was the outlier in the data set).Subsequently, even if they do consider her a little odd (which some do, if she’s going to be 100% honest), no one will even contemplate guessing the truth anyway.She has everything under control.100%.

Nothing, absolutely nothing could have prepared Aja, however, for what was to come.

Or, two less arms (though, technically her bottom set of arms were still there, they were just cloaked and unusable while they were cloaked), means two less hands to hold things with.Which ultimately means one couldn’t pass off whatever they were holding to those two (now gone) hands, which means Aja has a tendency to, errrm, drop things.At the most inopportune moments possible.

In science class, she drops enough beakers that the teacher officially assigns her a “lab buddy” to help her use the equipment.

At her locker, she grabs more books than her two human arms can hold and her belongings dump out on the ground.Repeatedly.

Her friends start to be careful in getting her attention because she’s prone to dropping things especially when she’s distracted.

But now, in this very moment, it was the single most important time Aja really needs to _not_ drop something.They were having a bonfire outside of Toby’s house and his grandmother made everyone tasty hot chocolates.Because Aja was the closest teen nearby to her at the time, Nana asked her to carry a tray with the whip cream-and-sprinkles-covered hot drinks out to everyone.

Aja stares at the tray in her hands.She takes one step, and then another.She goes incredibly slowly.Of all the things to drop, she really doesn’t want to drop these hot chocolates.

She makes it to the bonfire and passes the drinks out.Aja breathes in relief.She did it.She actually did it.Maybe, she’s getting the hang of this human thing, after all.

So proud of herself for accomplishing this one task, Aja once again forgets the lack of a third or fourth hand, tries to pass the empty tray to them, and immediately drops _that._


	5. Worst Nightmare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aja and Krel face their worst nightmares while under the influence of pixies
> 
> (written pre-3Below release, I believe)

Aja hears the explosion before she sees it.A whistling _SCREECH._ KA-BOOM.Debris shoots out from the school building in all directions like a violent firework.Screams erupt from everywhere.People flee.Some push past Aja, but she’s frozen in place.Her eyes lock onto the sky, where fire dances as the humans’ defensive air forces are blown to smithereens.

The battleships’s cannons aim and fire again and again.Aja watches, helpless, as the green bursts of laser light rush across the sky and slam into building after building.Arcadia, her lovely, peaceful Earth home, bursts apart.

Drop ships deploy from the battleships and land.Soldiers bearing the same mercenary insignia of the force that overran her home planet march out onto the streets.Their heavy boots march; _thud, thud, thud._ The barrels of their laser guns press up against terrified humans, herding them together in one massive group.Then—

_Zap.Zap.Zap._

Aja squeezes her eyes shut.She can’t look.This can’t be happening.This—she wants to scream, to cry.Anything!

“This is all your fault.”The mercenary leader saunters up to her.Aja forces her eyes open enough to see him.His voice was like slimy oil.“If you’d never run away, never come here, we wouldn’t have had to chase you and none of these poor, innocent beings would have had to been—”

* * *

“Aja!Aja, snap out of it!”

Aja gasps for breath.She’s—she’s at school?It’s not destroyed?Everyone’s alive?She hurries in looking around, but all is well.The sky is clear.What?

“Long story.”Toby tells her.“But there’s nightmare-causing pixies on the loose, they’re showing everyone their worst fears, and we’re the only sane ones left to catch them.Come on, we probably should find your brother next.”

Aja exhales a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.

A nightmare.It wasn’t real.It had all been a nightmare.

* * *

“You’re useless.”

“What?”Krel looks around.He and Aja are in the hold of their ship, the one they came to Earth on.Aja stands near the airlock.Krel sees through the window that they’re flying through space.

Aja turns to him, a twisted scowl on her face.“You’re just the _stupid, useless_ little brother that nobody wants around.I never liked you.I _hate_ you.”She chuckles darkly.“If I were to press this button.”Her fingers dance over the airlock release.“It’ll suck you out into space.No one will even care that you’re no longer around to be so annoying.”

“Aja, wait!Please—-“

* * *

Everything was gone.Overhead was a blue sky.

“Krel!You’re okay!”Aja hugs him and Krel relaxes.

It was just a nightmare.The worst one imaginable.


	6. Tragedy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krel tries to wake his sister up after she falls in battle during the Eternal Night.
> 
> Note: This one is rather dark

“Don’t worry, little brother, these guys are no match for—”

The debris slams into Aja, knocking her from her hoverboard.

In slow motion, Krel watches his sister fly through the air, fall, and roll on the ground.He races to her side.“AJA!”

She’s not getting up.She’s not getting up.She’s not getting up.She’s Aja.She always gets up.She’s all he has left.He can’t lose her.

“Aja!Aja, please!”Krel pulls her into his arms.Her eyes are closed.She’s unconscious.“Oh, no.No, no, no.”Krel feels like his innards are pounding.“Aja, can you hear me?Please, wake up!WAKE UP!”He yells at her, but to no avail.“Aja, please, please wake up…” Krel’s voice dies.He heaves each breath as if it will be his last too.

A blinding flash and Aja’s human disguise wears off.That only makes Krel feels worse.

He looks all around.No one’s noticed them yet.The battle rages on and no one has time for a warrior already fallen.

Krel doesn’t understand.They came to Earth to be safe.Aja herself said they would be perfectly safe here and yet, and yet.

And yet some weird eclipse-like phenomenon blotted out the sun.Massive stone soldiers with impenetrable armor march through Arcadia’s streets, destroying all in their path.His sister chose to fight for their home and here she was…

“Aja, please wake up,” Krel whispers.“Papa said we would always have each other.I can’t do this without you.You’re my sister.You’re all I have. _Please._ ” 


End file.
